Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“I will announce what has lain hidden since the creation of the world.” –Matthew 13:35 In Jesus’ parables, we learn things that were hidden for many thousands of years before Christ (Mt 13:35). In the Scriptures, the Lord tells us “things great beyond reach of [our] knowledge” (Jer 33:3). The Holy Spirit works through the Scriptures to reveal “even the deep things of God” (1 Cor 2:10). ” ‘Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him.’ Yet God has revealed this wisdom...

“What good is that for so many?” –John 6:9 The world, the flesh, and the devil – the three traditional enemies of Christians – try to brainwash us into trivializing our lives. Our enemies want us to believe that it doesn’t matter how we spend our time, energies, thoughts, money, or lives. One technique often used to make us think our lives are meaningless is to show us our inadequacy. Satan shows us the immensity of our culture of death – mass abortions, gross injustices, millions starving, and centuries of violent oppression and unforgiveness. Under these conditions, we feel inadequate...

“When the crop began to mature and yield grain, the weeds made their appearance as well.” –Matthew 13:26 The Lord doesn’t weed His garden (Mt 13:29). Jesus explained to His disciples that the field is the world, the wheat are the children of the kingdom, and the weeds are the children of the evil one (see Mt 13:38). Therefore, if you’re a child of the kingdom of God, you must suffer being intertwined with a lot of weeds (see Mt 13:29). The Lord puts His people together with the children of the evil one so that we may love and...

“Mark well, then, the parable of the sower.” –Matthew 13:18 God’s Word is fruitful, powerful, life-changing, and earthshaking. Therefore, our enemy, the devil, tries to prevent us from ever hearing it or at least from taking it to heart (see Mt 13:19). A second enemy opposing our living of God’s Word is our lack of depth or roots (see Mt 13:21). When our relationship with the Lord is shallow, why would we suffer to obey His Word? Our third enemy against living God’s Word is “worldly anxiety” (Mt 13:22). When we are worried about what we are to eat, drink,...

“Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them which says: ‘Listen as you will, you shall not understand, look intently as you will, you shall not see. Sluggish indeed is this people’s heart. They have scarcely heard with their ears, they have firmly closed their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back to Me, and I should heal them.’ ” –Matthew 13:14-15 The above passage is a Scripture quote from Isaiah 6:9-10. Isaiah had seen a vision of God, was purified, and accepted God’s call to be His...